Wheel of Fortune Viewers have a new favorite contestant after the lovely Geoffrey Smith appeared in Monday’s episode (January 13) and proved to be an excellent puzzle solver.

Smith, from Saint Cloud, Florida, told host Ryan Seacrest about growing up and watching in Kingston, Jamaica Wheel of Fortune on his neighbor’s black and white television, since his family was so poor that they never owned a color television. He also said he was amazed to see Vanna White “in vivid color.”

On Monday’s episode, Smith competed against Kaitlyn O’Keeffe, a high school social studies teacher from Deer Park, New York, and Sonja Hughes, a beauty pageant fanatic from Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.

Smith proved to be a force to be reckoned with from the start, immediately taking advantage of a mistake by Hughes (leaving out the “S” in her answer) and solving the episode’s first mystery. He then landed the puzzles in Round 1 and the Mystery Round, giving him a strong opening total of $7,500.

From then on, Smith took full control of the game, solving all three puzzles of the Triple Toss-Up round and the final puzzle of the Speed-Up round. This gave him a total of $26,000 in episode earnings, compared to $7,300 for Hughes and $1,000 for O’Keeffe.

At the start of the bonus round, the great Smith towered over Seacrest as he selected the often tricky “Phrase” category. Smith took a moment to study the board before selecting his additional letters, “C, F, M and I.” This gave him a four-word puzzle that read: “_ _ ST / _ L _ RT / IT / _ _ T.”

“Take your time, it’s a phrase, you’ve got ten seconds,” Seacrest said, perhaps realizing Smith had a tough sell in front of him.

But as soon as the 10-second timer started, Smith confidently replied, “Just let it out.”

“Yeah! Wait a minute… come on!” said a shocked Seacrest before opening the prize envelope and revealing that Smith had added an additional $40,000 to his total winnings.

White came over to congratulate Smith, who was dancing and celebrating his win. Meanwhile, Seacrest added, “You looked down on me and said, ‘You don’t have to talk anymore, Ryan, I just want to blurt it out.’

“Eventually I got it,” Smith replied.

Fans loved Smith and his incredible bonus round puzzle solving, with one X user writing: “Geoffrey is the best #wheeloffortune player ever. Holy smokes.”

Geoffrey is the best #wheeloffortune Players of all time. Holy smoke

– CFMuir (@CFMuirWrites) January 14, 2025

Another agreed, saying: “#Geoffrey on @WheelofFortune tonight might be my favorite contestant ever!!!! I love him!!!”

One Wheel of Fortune Reddit user described Smith as a “legend,” while another agreed, writing, “The Jamaican here tonight is a legend.”

“With the letters he chose I thought he hadn’t made it, but Geoffrey proved me wrong! Well played Geoffrey, well played!” added one YouTube commenter.

“Wow, this is perfect!! Great solution from Geoffrey!!!” said another.

“Well done, Geoffrey! It was a tough question, but you still got it right!” wrote one fan.

However, many others were unable to watch last night’s episode because it was preempted for the NFL post-playoffs. In fact, Smith himself may have missed his own episode because, as one Reddit user pointed out, “he’s from St. Cloud, FL, in the Orlando area.” WOF was not aired on WFTV-Channel 9 due to the NFL pregame aired, but its episode will air on Saturday at 12:30 p.m.”

Another Reddit user explained, “ABC is airing an NFL Wild Card game tonight at 8 ET with pregame at 7:30 p.m., which means WOF won’t air in many cities where it airs on ABC.” “Since most channels also show Jeopardy! Via “Wheel of Fortune,” some cities where WOF normally airs at 7 p.m. will replace it with “Jeopardy!” Just for tonight.”

Did you get to see Monday’s episode? What did you think of Smith’s big win? Let us know in the comments section below.